


The Song of the Gun

by quantumlevitation



Category: BioShock Infinite
Genre: Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-14
Updated: 2013-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-04 15:36:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1082740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumlevitation/pseuds/quantumlevitation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a prompt from the-stray-liger on Tumblr - Rosalind gets caught on the wrong side of the tear during the events of Burial at Sea, Booker kills her in rage, Robert goes through to have his revenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Song of the Gun

**Author's Note:**

> All kinds of warnings on this one:
> 
> Burial at Sea spoilers, TW for blood/gore, multiple major character death, TW for suicide.

The tear is closing, and the men are still fighting, and Robert sees Rosalind knocked over in the alleyway, and suddenly the universe is whole again, and the child is not. Comstock staggers back with the severed small head in his hands, the blood running onto the floor and his shoes. He flees out the front door, still holding the head, leaving a smear of fresh crimson on the doorknob. 

Robert looks down the street to make sure that Comstock is gone, then powers the machine back up to fetch Rosalind. The tear shimmers, and flashes, and springs into being.

The body of the child is on the ground and so is she, though she faces away from him. She may have been knocked unconscious, he thinks, and steps through to get her. He leans down to scoop her shoulder into his arm, and realizes that, where her face was, there is a red void, and when he raises her up a pool of blood tips over and trickles through her hair. He stumbles into the corner of the alley and vomits, then immediately feels remorse that he was so revulsed by the body of his beloved. 

He looks around, to see if anyone might have seen what happened, but realizes that this is not the sort of neighborhood where, if gunshots were heard, anyone would come running. Quite the opposite, he thinks, looking at the surrounding buildings.

He does not know what to do at this point besides bring the body of the girl and his other self through, setting them on the floor and covering them with sheets and shutting down the tear. He is pure machine, nothing but action. He sends a telegram to Comstock, bidding him in veiled language to come fetch the girl’s body, and another to the funeral home, to let them know that his sister is dead.

\-----

The new suit is stiff and has a smell of fabric and the hands of the tailor who made it. He takes it out of the bag and peels it apart, then reassembles it around himself.

He feels heavy, like he is wading through water, or blood. The fabric is thicker than the suits that he and Rosalind wore and he thinks it is fitting, the degree to which it is binding him and restricting his motion. 

The coffin is in the parlor, sealed shut. He chose the simplest one they had, but was overruled by Comstock, who does not want to appear as if he is giving the Mother of Columbia short shrift. He can hear Rosalind’s voice mocking its opulence, totaling up how much additional research could have been funded by its extravagance. 

But she will not mock anything any more, he thinks. Tears spring to his eyes, but he banishes them. He will not let them see him cry. 

His grief for Rosalind is such a ridiculously private thing and he despises the absurdity of being forced to perform it in such a manner. He understands that others must be given the chance to pay their respects, but he does not know how he is going to endure it. 

He hears a gentle knock at the door. The funeral director answers it, and moments later a soft rap is heard on his door. “Father Comstock is here, Mr. Lutece. Will you attend him?”

Robert takes a deep breath and opens the door. “Certainly.”

Comstock is in the parlor, kneeling before the coffin with a number of his hangers-on in attendance. Robert wants to slit his throat. Instead, he greets him, and he rises.

“Robert. I am so, so, sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, Father Comstock.”

Comstock gestures for his followers to step into another room, and they leave. His light blue eyes are focused on Robert, reading him.

“I will be setting Columbia down, and she will no longer stride the skies. I have made arrangements for a place to leave it.”

Robert was thunderstruck. 

“I will need you to assist me in lowering the buildings to the ground, and then—“

Comstock grasped his arms in his hands and squeezed, looking into Robert’s eyes. He speaks in a whisper, with a sincerity that Robert did not know he possessed.

“I…need to disappear. I know you can do that. Let me go somewhere I can forget.”

Robert is about to speak, but then the first mourners are shown in, and they are forced to greet them. After they pass, Robert looks at Comstock and nods.

\-----

The setting down of the city and the dropoff in Rapture occurred without incident, a small miracle in itself. Robert dressed simply, and went unrecognized to a small shop in Finkton, where he procured a large revolver and a handful of ammunition. Robert opens the tear, this time entering directly into the man’s office. He steps out, holding the gun. 

Booker is sitting in his office, alone. He raises his head. 

Go ahead and shoot, he says. You’ll be doing me a favor. 

Robert fires the gun, then again and again until the hammer is clicking uselessly at each pull of the trigger. He walks up to the desk, and grabs the man by his hair, slamming his bloody face into the desk, though he is already dead, until he is exhausted and the man’s face is no longer there. He steps back into the tear. 

He can hear the clock ticking in the other room, and some noise from outside. His gaze falls on the bullets on the desk. In the silence, he hears the song that the gun has been singing to him since it came into his hand, and he knows how he will respond.


End file.
